The system, known as the Teleférico Bicentenario, will improve transportation connectivity between two business hubs located in the communes of Providencia and Huechuraba — currently separated by Cerro San Cristobal (hill). Three major nodes will have stations including Costanera Center, Cerro San Cristobal and Ciudad Empresarial.

Costanera Center is a major skyscraper complex that is home to not only South America’s tallest building (Gran Torre Santiago, 300m) but also to the continent’s largest mall (Mall Costanera Center). At this complex, a station will be located at Plazoleta Nueva Zelandia, 170m from the Tobalaba interchange station on Line 1 and Line 4 of the Santiago Metro.

Cerro San Cristobal Station (mid-station). Image from ciudadempresarial.cl.

Ciudad Empresarial Station. Image from ciudadempresarial.cl.

From Costanera Center, the cable car will travel northwest and make a stop at Parque Metropolitano before arriving at Ciudad Empresarial. Ciudad Empresarial is a business complex with more than 30,000 workers and 700 companies. With the new cable car, travel time between these two nodes will decrease by nearly 70% to 13 minutes.

The Teleférico Bicentenario will have 26 towers, 147 10-passenger cabins and headways of 12 seconds. The system will offer riders 17 hours of daily service, delivering up to 3,000 passengers per hour per direction. While a fare structure has not been finalized yet, a maximum ticket cost of US$0.90 (CLP 600) has been proposed. Proponents hope that the ropeway will be fare-integrated with the rest of Santiago’s public transit network.

According to online sources, the concept for the urban gondola was initially developed by the private sector seven years ago. The market will have until November 23 to respond to the US$80 million project before a 30-year concession is awarded on December 21. Afterwards, the winner will start detailed designs and engineering before the gondola is launched in 2022.

Santiago is no stranger to ropeway technology as the recreational gondola, Teleférico Metropolitano, has been part of the city’s infrastructure network since 1980 (rebuilt 2016). When the Teleférico Bicentenario opens, the Chilean capital will join the ranks of eight other Latin American cities who have already built CPT.—